The plans include implementation of structured and independent ‘quality assurance’ audits for all major projects, reports Joe Ives, Local Democracy Reporter

Barnet Council's head office with (inset) Arjun Mittra — Barnet Council’s head office with (inset) Arjun Mittra

Stricter regulations for construction projects in Barnet are being devised to address what one councillor describes as “outrageous” shortfalls in quality.

On Tuesday (17th) Barnet Council’s governance, audit, risk management and standards committee signed off on a raft of new measures aimed at ensuring new building projects meet quality and safety standards.

The plans include implementation of structured, independent, ‘quality assurance’ audits for all major projects.

The decision followed what one council officer described as “some pretty detailed research” into contractors, consultants and other council staff who oversee building projects in the borough.

The report found a need for the council to make improvements, especially in providing greater oversight of private building contractors on large-scale projects.

One of the proposed ways of implementing this is through the introduction of a ‘clerk of works’ – building material specialists who will scrutinise large-scale developments.

The council officer who oversaw the report said the local authority would not be taking on “wholesale management” of the supply chain for building materials but instead overseeing the way in which contractors were managing their own.

Responding to concerns about the cost of these new measures, the officer explained that significant projects would only need one clerk of works and they may not even be needed for the entirety of the project.

They said: “It’s about having that technical resource who has experience on construction sites to be able to ask the right questions of the contractor and to deep dive into particular issues, understanding what they’re talking about with that contractor.”

Councillor Arjun Mittra, the Labour chair of the audit committee, praised the report and underlined the importance of the new measures, saying: “This is one of the most consequential decisions we’ve got to make.

“Hopefully it’ll save lives if we get it right.”

Cllr Mittra added that in his day job outside the council he had done a lot of work looking into the 2017 Grenfell Tower fire which killed 72 people. The fire happened in Kensington and Chelsea but has contributed to other local authorities, including Barnet, to look at ways of improving building standards.

The use of improper building materials is seen as having played a major role at Grenfell. “Some of the things that were exposed in the enquiries were absolutely dreadful,” Cllr Mittra said.

“Not just about the material quality but about the fact that Kensingtion and Chelsea Council did not know the internal blueprints of their own building.

“Things like that that had fatal consequences.”

Cllr Mittra added: “I say to colleagues: if you ever wonder ‘what’s the point of what we do?’ – it’s stuff like this.

“God forbid we ever need to actually use any of this stuff but, if we do, this is incredibly important.”

Cllr Mittra argued that plans to introduce expert council staff to monitor large building projects are long overdue for many local authorities, especially at the planning stage.

“The [Grenfell] fire was nine years ago nearly and we still haven’t made any real progress on recruiting material specialists across the planning sector, which I think is outrageous,” Cllr Mittra added.

The new measures were approved by the audit committee on Tuesday (17th) with amendments. These are so other relevant council committees and, potentially, the local authority’s cabinet, can consider the proposals before they are confirmed.

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